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Lord Alton of Liverpool shows support to the complaints filed by FOB's president Alessandro Amicarelli

1 August 2018 – Lord Alton of Liverpool shows support in the UK Parliament to the complaints recently filed with the United Nations by FOB's president Alessandro Amicarelli in his capacity as human rights attorney on behalf of victims of religious persecution in China.

In a written question addressed to Her Majesty's Government, Lord Alton of Liverpool asked "whether they intend to support the complaint recently filed by Alessandro Amicarelli to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention against China".

Her Majesty's Government has positively and precisely replied with a statement made by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, who made it clear that the Government "remain deeply concerned about the persecution of Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners and others on the grounds of their religion or belief in China" and also added that "Her Majesty’s Government remains committed to promoting and defending the right to freedom of religion or belief for all individuals" and finally concluded that the Government will keep a close focus on the developments in this matter by reaffirming that "The UK has a close working relationship with UN bodies and is committed to upholding the rule of law and rules-based international system" and "My officials continue to monitor the progress of the complaint filed by Alessandro Amicarelli and await the outcome".

He and the other speakers at the session on China, Prof. Massimo Introvigne, executive director of CESNUR, and Ms Rosita Šorytė, Lithuanian diplomat and president of ORLIR, and Mr Greg Mitchell co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Round-Table, also addressed the issue of religious persecution in China in general terms and mentioned also the several millions of Muslims, Buddhists and Falun Gong practitioners and members of other religious and spirituality groups that are subject to persecution and arbitrary detention in China.

One of the aim of the week for the Advancement of Religious Freedom was to consolidate and strengthen the efforts of the countries that more strongly support the advancement of religious freedom in the world and to work more closely together to that end.

The recent statements by Lord Alton of Liverpool and by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon reassure us that the United Kingdom keeps working, in cooperation with other like-minded nations, toward the realization of a harmonious world where all individuals unequivocally have the right to freedom of religion and belief without exceptions.

As human rights and freedom of religion and belief advocates we can only wish for more people and more countries to join this peaceful fight for freedom as hoped during the Religious Freedom Week in Washington DC.